This remarkable stat proves Stevie Ger’s vision for Rangers

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This remarkable stat proves Stevie Ger’s vision for Rangers



Article by: Richard


An incredibly large turnout of 41,025 chose
to travel to Ibrox to take in Friday night’s friendly match instead of watching
the Brazil v Belgium match
on TV. They will consider themselves the lucky ones as they were rewarded for
their loyalty with Stevie G’s new Rangers side playing free flowing, high
energy, good to watch football and scoring 6 goals with no goals against.
To be fair, we don’t know how good or bad
Bury actually are, but you always have to beat the opposition that is put in
front of you. Obviously there will be much harder challenges to come, but I am
truly impressed by the ages of this
new side; they are still fairly young, which should lead to more enthusiasm and
higher energy levels than older teams.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Stevie G’s new
Rangers squad, and there was so much to talk about. It was lovely to see one of
our ex-heroes back in goals, the one and only Allan McGregor and what an ovation he got the first time he touched
the ball during the match.
In terms of those ages?
26-year-old James Tavernier is our captain and I think that is telling us he
is not for sale. He played in a slightly different position of right back. He
was positioned fractionally ahead of where a normal back four full back plays,
but not as far as advanced as a marauding wing-back would play. He was a big
success in this new position and didn’t have to attack as much as normal.
Connor Goldson the 25-year-old new
signing from Brighton, was immense at centre back and looks to be such a good
acquisition. At 6’ 3”, he is dominant in the air, his passing was great,
fabulous positional play and more importantly, he knows how to read the game
and defend properly.
Nikola Katić, the 21-year-old Croatian
looks so comfortable at centre back, and scored with a long ranged left-footed
shot that the keeper should have saved. He was aggressive and at 6’ 4” he will
be a fabulous long-term asset to Rangers.
25-year-old Jon Flanagan was played in a similar role as Tavernier only
playing the position on the left. He looked a real quality player who could
become a firm fans’ favourite. He knows how to tackle and his overall play was
delightful, no wonder Gerrard brought him from Liverpool
– for no fee!
Daniel Candeias at 30-years-old,
remarkably is the oldest outfield
player apart from Dorrans and he lined up at wide right, but on so many
occasions he tucked further into the midfield to help out with the flow of the
game. Played well and made an excellent contribution to the team.
29-year-old Scott Arfield played magnificently and was my MOTM, he really
looks to be a top player. Scored 2 goals and was all over the pitch with his
clever late runs into the box – and
signed for no fee.
Ross McCrorie is only 20 and was picked as our holding
midfielder and played a blinder. I will be shocked if he doesn’t make this
position his own on this form – unless we can sign better player. He is young,
mobile, got a terrific temperament and attitude, and is an extremely good
tackler.
28-year-old Jamie Murphy had another good game and scored the all-important
opening goal. I am confident that Gerrard rates him as a player given the
swiftness of his signing.
Josh Windass our 24-year-old top midfield scorer, was all over the pitch to good
effect and the word from Ibrox is that Gerrard wants to hold on to him, even if
Cardiff are
willing to pay the £3million release clause. I was pleased with the energy and
speed that he showed in his fine contribution to the team.
Just turned 22-year-old Alfredo Morelos was his usual self as he got himself into
brilliant goal-scoring positions, but missed most of them except for the header
he scored. Windass whipped in an inch-perfect cross for him to net Rangers fifth
goal.
Substitutes who came on in the 2nd
half.
23-year-old Declan John replaced the excellent Jon Flanagan and did alright,
but the Englishman looks to be a much better defender than Declan, who is a
good attacking full back.
26-year-old Ryan Jack, 26-year-old Andy
Halliday
plus 18-year-old winger Glenn
Middleton
played the last 30 minutes, and Middleton was outstanding with
his direct left-wing play that set up 2 very good assists. In June a Daily
Record poll, 87% fans voted that Middleton would break into our first team
within a year or so. He certainly looks a great prospect!
19-year-old centre half Aidan Wilson replaced Katić and 21-year-old midfielder Greg Docherty took over from the
brilliant Arfield.
The very promising 18-year-old striker Zak Rudden, 19-year-old winger Serge Atakayi plus 26-year-old full-back
Lee Hodson were brought on, and
Middleton laid on a perfect cut-back cross for Rudden to score the 6th
and last goal of the game with 15 minutes still to go.
Kyle Bradley the 19-year-old
defender was brought on for Goldson with 12 minutes to go, and Goldson earned
his standing ovation as he left the field delighted with himself.
20-year-old midfielder Ovie Ejaria was considered to be a little behind the other players
for fitness, as he missed the all- important 7 days of the Malaga training camp.
Jordan Rossiter is now 21 and 31-year-old Graham Dorrans were not fit enough to
feature.
Eduardo Herrera and Harry Forrester are surplus to
requirements, but they are still attending the training sessions.
Alves and Cardoso are both looking for a team
to sign for.
So looking at the average age of the squad,
the number (aside McGregor) is just over 23, a truly excellent age for a modern
football team.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. McCrorie is a good tackler but the way he does it, often sliding in then trying to manoeuvre the ball away, is going to lead to fouls been given against him and, more importantly, injuries. He needs to stay on his feet a bit more even if it means he does not win every ball first time.

    I also think Katic was superb and will be a huge asset

    • Agreed. You can't play football on your arse. Ross needs to learn the art of defending without diving into rash slide tackles.

  2. great piece and we also have two players coming in Sadiq who is 21 and Coulibaly (22)
    so the young theme continues.
    Big difference,this time last season, suspicion had already set in resulting in me stating the Pedro wouldn't last til Halloween and got a bit of stick for it, NOW Iam overjoyed that every other team and ex players (not necessarily ex Gers players who now have "a column to write") are presently writing off Gerrard's Rangers off as not being able to catch Celtic this season cause we don't have the quality players or the cash to get them! Well do your worse folks, cause after watching our 18/19 squad on the training videos and Fridays game along with the players attitudes, happy demeanour, appearance and not forgetting their performances, I have now got a real hunch, inkling, notion, feeling, call it what you like, for the coming season, something I have not been able to muster these past 6 years. So I am now a 'super optimist' that all these sceptics will eat the usual and in huge loads cause our Manager, his coaching team and our young players will ram those doubters words down their throats and we will have a great season. Bring it on!

  3. So whats the story on halliday is he now in or out confused.com
    Is the meter running or turned away

    LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  4. Just Cant Wait for the Season to get Going! 😃👍⚽💙

    Still got some deadwood to clear fist tho …Herrera, Cardoso, Forrester etc

Comments are closed.